Page 8A East Oregonian PEANUTS COFFEE BREAK Friday, May 20, 2016 DEAR ABBY BY CHARLES M . SCHULZ Age is an issue for senior girl dating sophomore boy FOR BETTER OR WORSE BY LYNN JOHNSTON B.C. BY JOHNNY HART PICKLES BY BRIAN CRANE Dear Abby: I’m a senior (girl) in to widen not only your range of high school and have been dating a interests, but also your circle of acquaintances. You owe it to yourself sophomore even though he’s less than to take advantage of everything that a year younger than I am. (I’m very college offers. If you wish to continue young for my grade.) We have a lot seeing your current boyfriend, do so. in common and I think we both love However, it would be better for both each other a lot. of you if it is done on a non-exclusive Next fall, I’m planning on going to basis for the next few years. a local community college, but I won’t Jeanne Dear Abby: Several times recently be too far away. I think my boyfriend Phillips when I have invited people to parties has more interest in the military or a Advice or dinners at our home, they have vocational career than college, but surprised me by responding with not he’s very serious and mature for his age. I know college will be a chance for me to only their regrets but also with a counteroffer. meet new people and I don’t want to limit my For example: “Sorry, we’re busy the evening chances, but if I’m still interested in dating of the 22nd, but could you have us over the following Thursday?” him, would it be “proper”? How should I respond to this? I’m trying I was already hesitant about dating him because he was younger, although I knew to invite them for a speciic event, not open a if the situation was reversed it wouldn’t be negotiation. It feels like the subtext is that our a problem. Assuming everything still works schedule is less important than our potential out between us, is it OK for a college girl to guests’ and we should be prepared to enter- date a high school boy? I’m not sure how to tain them whatever day they have open. On handle this. I know things may change before the other hand, this has happened so often fall, but I’m getting anxious about it now. He I’m starting to wonder if social obligations has already said that he would still like to date are now being handled in the same way as me if I want to, so it’s basically up to me. — business meetings and I should just adjust to it. What’s your opinion? — Counteroffers Anxious In The Midwest Dear Anxious: As far as I know, there In Los Angeles Dear Counteroffers: You should enter- is no rule forbidding a college freshman continuing to date someone who is still in tain on the schedule that’s most convenient high school. Because the choice is yours, I for you. If someone has a conlict, you should (sweetly) tell the person you will miss having suggest you just let this play out. College will present you with a chance them. Period. DAYS GONE BY BEETLE BAILEY GARFIELD BLONDIE BY MORT WALKER BY JIM DAVIS 100 Years Ago From the East Oregonian May 20, 1916 Hail to Muriel, queen of the Rose Festival and of the Columbia Highway! Long live the queen! With more than four million, two hundred thousand votes to spare, Miss Muriel Saling, Pendleton’s candidate in the Rose Queen contest, was returned the winner when the balloting closed in Portland last night. Her total vote was over the 7,400,000 mark, more than twice as much as received by Miss Lillian Hendrickson of Portland, candidate of the Foresters of America, who was second, and almost as much as the combined vote of her three highest contestants. Practically all of the local votes were purchased during the ten day period when votes sold for 6000 for a dollar. However, less than two million were purchased directly. More than ive million were purchased by Portland people to whom the local committee had sent money. 50 Years Ago From the East Oregonian May 20, 1966 The senator in a hurry, 65-year-old Wayne Morse, with the physical and mental bounce typical of some of the teenagers in his audi- ence, and who likes to be known as Oregon’s senior senator, dashed into Hermiston Thursday afternoon, about 30 minutes late for a coffee hour, left town behind schedule, and in a hurry, for a dinner speaking engagement in La Grande. The fast-talking, silver tongued orator, who has never been recognized as suffering from an inferiority complex, found an attentive audience of around 75 at the Civic Recreation Center. They gave him so much attention he might have continued on into the night. He was in “clover” at the CRC, and many of his admirers followed him to the waiting car, after the meeting. 25 Years Ago From the East Oregonian May 20, 1991 Hundreds of houses were evacuated and many were damaged when residents of Umatilla County endured one of the worst loods in county history Sunday. Dramatic levels of runoff — resulting from heavy rains pelting the Blue Mountains Saturday and Sunday — swelled area rivers and streams, forcing emergency measures in communities throughout northeast Oregon. In Meacham, where the rainfall numbers give a better idea of the runoff from the Blue Mountains, more than 2.31 inches fell between Saturday morning and 6 a.m. this morning. Two National Guard helicopters were used to rescue two adults and four children stranded without food about eight miles up Yellow- jacket Road southeast of Pilot Rock. BY DEAN YOUNG AND STAN DRAKE THIS DAY IN HISTORY DILBERT THE WIZARD OF ID LUANN ZITS BY SCOTT ADAMS BY BRANT PARKER AND JOHNNY HART BY GREG EVANS BY JERRY SCOTT AND JIM BORGMAN Today is the 141st day of 2016. There are 225 days left in the year. Today’s Highlight in History: On May 20, 1916, the Saturday Evening Post published its irst Norman Rockwell cover; the illustra- tion shows a scowling boy dressed in his Sunday best, dutifully pushing a baby carriage past a couple of young baseball players, one of whom mockingly doffs his cap. On this date: In 1712, the original version of Alexander Pope’s satirical mock-heroic poem “The Rape of the Lock” was published anonymously in Lintot’s Miscellany. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act, which was intended to encourage settle- ments west of the Mississippi River by making federal land available for farming. In 1902, the United States ended a three-year military presence in Cuba as the Republic of Cuba was estab- lished under its irst elected president, Tomas Estrada Palma. In 1925, the newly built headquarters of the United States Chamber of Commerce was formally dedicated in Washington, D.C. In 1927, Charles Lind- bergh took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, aboard the Spirit of St. Louis on his historic solo light to France. In 1932, Amelia Earhart took off from Newfoundland to become the irst woman to ly solo across the Atlantic. (Because of weather and equipment problems, Earhart set down in Northern Ireland instead of her intended desti- nation, France.) In 1942, during World War II, the Ofice of Civilian Defense was established. In 1956, the United States exploded the irst airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini Atoll in the Paciic. In 1970, some 100,000 people demonstrated in New York’s Wall Street district in support of U.S. policy in Vietnam and Cambodia. Today’s Birthdays: Actor-author James McEachin is 86. Actor Anthony Zerbe is 80. Actor David Proval is 74. Singer-ac- tress Cher is 70. Actor-co- median Dave Thomas is 68. Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, is 65. Rock musician Warren Cann is 64. Former New York Gov. David Paterson is 62. Actor Dean Butler is 60. TV-radio personality Ron Reagan is 58. Rock musician Jane Wiedlin (The Go-Go’s) is 58. Actor Bronson Pinchot is 57. Singer Susan Cowsill is 57. Actor John Billingsley is 56. Actor Tony Goldwyn is 56. Singer Nick Heyward is 55. TV personality Ted Allen is 51. Actress Mindy Cohn is 50. Rock musician Tom Gorman (Belly) is 50. Actor Timothy Olyphant is 48. Race car driver Tony Stewart is 45. Rapper Busta Rhymes is 44. Thought for Today: “A low of words is a sure sign of duplicity.” — Honore de Balzac, French author (born this date in 1799, died in 1850). PHOEBE AND HER UNICORN BY DANA SIMPSON BIG NATE BY LINCOLN PEIRCE